A Tesla Model 3 sedan is displayed during its launch in Hawthorne, California on March 31. Photo: CFP

Tesla Motors Inc has surprised parts producers with plans to move up the launch of high-volume production of its Model 3 to 2018, two years earlier than planned, a move that supplier executives and industry consultants said will be difficult to achieve and potentially costly.

In the past three months, Tesla has told suppliers the company was doubling its original production projections to 100,000 Model 3s in 2017 and 400,000 in 2018, several supplier industry executives familiar with the plans told Reuters.

Details on Model 3 production projections have not been reported previously, and Tesla did not break out target volumes for the Model 3.

Tesla has taken 373,000 orders for the Model 3, which has a starting price of $35,000, about half its Model S, and has said it will begin customer deliveries in late 2017. But it has made no promises, and, on earlier models, customers waited months for delivery.

Citing "tremendous demand," Chief Executive Elon Musk told analysts on an April call that the company plans to boost total production, including the existing Model S and Model X crossover, to 500,000 in 2018. That would be two years earlier than its original target. It made 50,000 vehicles in 2015.

Musk said Tesla told suppliers to prepare for Model 3 production tests in July 2017, a goal he acknowledged may be unrealistic for some.

But he said the "aggressive" target is necessary to reach production goals.

Industry experts expressed doubt about Tesla's new goals. The handful of North American auto plants capable of building 500,000 vehicles a year are all run by automakers with decades of experience, they said. 

Tesla continues to have delivery delays for its Model X SUV. Its Model S also missed delivery targets when launched.

One complication is that Tesla has not finalized the Model 3 design and specifications, said industry consultants and supply executives who asked not to be identified because Tesla prohibits them from disclosing contract details.

Musk said the Model 3 design and engineering will be complete in June, 13 months ahead of the planned production start-up.

Under ideal conditions, automakers have launched new assembly lines in 18 months, but they typically take two to three years after the first tooling and supply contracts are signed, several manufacturing consultants said.

Reuters